It’s Official: Samsung Announces Global Galaxy Note 7 Recall Due To Exploding Battery Issue

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 may have been announced and released to an extremely welcoming audience, but it’s pretty much been down hill from there on in. After initially halting shipments of the 5.7-inch device to certain telecom companies, Samsung has now taken what must have been an extremely difficult internal decision to issue a worldwide recall of the hardware due to fears of exploding batteries whilst on charge.

As has been previously reported, a number of Galaxy Note 7 owners have reported terrifying issues of their device battery exploding while the phone has been tethered to a charger taking on power. The South Korean company has confirmed that a total of 35 devices have been found to be suffering from the issue to date.

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The potential of a worldwide recall was first floated yesterday when one Korean news agency reported that the device manufacturer would be halting sales in South Korea first, followed by other markets.

That initial decision to halt sales locally was also joined by discussions between Samsung and Verizon Wireless in the U.S. on how to best handle the situation in markets outside Korea. Samsung would have had a number of potential options available on the table, but given the potential severity of the issue, the best, and the safest decision, was found to issue a full worldwide recall of the flagship device. As such, the sales of the device in all regions have also stopped until the problem is fixed by Samsung.

Here’s the company’s official statement on the matter:

To date (as of September 1) there have been 35 cases that have been reported globally and we are currently conducting a thorough inspection with our suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market. However, because our customers’ safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7.

For customers who already have Galaxy Note 7 devices, we will voluntarily replace their current device with a new one over the coming weeks.

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It seems that Samsung is committed to coming up with a more reliable solution that instills consumer confidence back into those who either own a Galaxy Note 7 already, or who are planning on purchasing one when it becomes available again after the battery issue has been rectified.

Not exactly a great day for Samsung, but they do say the measure of a company is in how it actually responds to incidents of this nature. In that respect, Samsung has taken the right decision.

(source: Samsung | Top Image: Galaxy Note 7 Catches Fire)

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